Disputed Race Will Be Re-Run at the State Meet

The girls’ 100-meter high hurdles race from the Southern Section Masters Meet will be re-run at 2 p.m. on Friday at Cerritos College before the start of the state championships because the third flight of hurdles was incorrectly placed, section officials announced Wednesday.

The incorrect placement Friday threw off the hurdlers’ steps and led to slower times. The top five finishers advance to the state championships.

Heats in the girls’ hurdles for the state meet are scheduled to start at 5:55 p.m. on Friday.

Senior Gina Londono of Highland High and sophomore Tracy Johnson of Notre Dame will be two of the nine hurdlers involved in the re-run. Londono placed third in 15.42 and Johnson was seventh in 16.59 last week.

Junior Dana Bethel of Mission Viejo, runner-up in the 1999 state championships, was disqualified after running through the third hurdle.

Several coaches protested conditions of the race, but meet officials ruled results were final.

Attorney Jim Bastian filed a formal written complaint with the Southern Section on Tuesday on behalf of Bethel, sixth-place Kai Ivory of Marymount and Monea Bradley of Muir, who failed to finish the race.

* Nancy James of Cal State Northridge was eliminated in her qualifying heat of the women’s 800 meters on the first day of the NCAA championships at Duke University on Wednesday.

James, a senior, had the fifth-fastest entry time in the meet at 2:05.08, but placed fifth in her heat in 2:07.53.

Brigita Langerholc of USC placed first in 2:04.16, followed by Melanie Steere of Brigham Young in 2:04.55.

The top two finishers in each of three heats, plus the next three fastest runners overall, advanced to the final on Friday.

Senior Brandi Prieto of Northridge will compete in the women’s triple jump on Saturday.

ATHLETICS

* In a last-ditch effort to restore baseball and softball teams at Mission College by next spring, Duke Russell will hold a rally and news conference at 10 a.m. Sunday at El Cariso Park in Sylmar.

Interim President Tom Oliver announced in September of 1999 that Mission College would begin preparations to restore a sports program, which was cut in 1997 because of budget constraints.

Mission plans to offer men’s and women’s soccer in the fall of 2001 and baseball and softball in the spring of 2002.

Russell, who believes Oliver and the college have unfairly delayed the process, has campaigned this spring to have baseball and softball restored by the spring of 2001.

“We hope this show of community support, from the coaches to the players and their parents, will spark the miracle we need,” said Russell, who held a rally and news conference on May 5 and distributed signed petitions that were faxed to Gov. Gray Davis and local Assembly members.

BASKETBALL

* Bruce Breeden has been hired as girls’ coach at Crescenta Valley High.

Breeden, a graduate of Hoover High and Azusa Pacific, will be the program’s fourth coach in five seasons. He replaces Allen Freemon.

Breeden, who will teach special education, was a boys’ basketball assistant at Crescenta Valley the last two seasons.